


Maelstrom

by SleepieAsh



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Blood, F/M, Fluff, Identity Reveal, Slow Burn, i'll warn about it before it happens, it won't be that bad though, later that is, new miraculous users, the love square is endgame don't worry about the volpinachat thing, there will be a little bit of explicit content, wink wink
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-07
Updated: 2016-06-21
Packaged: 2018-07-12 20:17:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7121053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepieAsh/pseuds/SleepieAsh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Years after Volpina's disappearance, Chat Noir and Ladybug watch over their city, unaware that it'll be the last time they're able to do so. </p>
<p>Alternatively, in which Marinette struggles with how she feels and Adrien slowly falls apart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

When he thinks back on it, it was obvious that it was the beginning of the end.

The night had started off normal enough. There’d been an akuma attack while they were doing the usual patrol; a girl who neither Chat or Ladybug knew. As far as the attacks went, they’d slowed down in the time after the incident with Volpina. Not to mention that Lila herself went missing soon after. 

In the days that followed after her disappearance, they’d kept an eye out for her. 

“It doesn’t feel resolved,” Ladybug had said. “She was definitely still angry with me.”

And that was that. Chat had agreed and been out with her every night since to look for any trace of Volpina. After a while, it seemed as if she wasn’t returning and the two returned to their normal routine. 

That night, Chat had arrived exactly fifteen minutes late. Ladybug hadn’t told him much except for a simple “You’re late.” to which he replied, “I’m sorry, My Lady.”

The two of them had agreed to patrol the streets of Paris every night at promptly 7 PM. Usually, he was on time, always excited to spend time with the person who was so important to him. However, his father had begun to plan shoots later and later, making him a few minutes late for the past few weeks. 

Chat didn’t exactly mind at first but he could tell Ladybug had been itching to ask him about it for days now. He didn’t know how to discuss it with her without giving away his civilian identity. As much as he wouldn’t mind her knowing who he was, he respected her wishes to keep their lives separate. 

With that in mind, he took her comment in stride as they hopped from building to building. Eventually, they’d landed on a platform near the top of the Eiffel Tower. Occasionally, they would stop there and talk on a slow night. Most of their conversation revolved around akuma attacks and speculation about Hawkmoth but recently, Chat had gotten Ladybug to talk a bit about what she did in her civilian life. 

He didn’t know much about her besides the fact that they were the same age and went to the same university. They probably had classes together for all he knew but that hardly mattered to him. Despite how much he wanted her to talk to him about more personal things, he wouldn’t deny that he was also somewhat content with their current relationship.

They were best friends. 

But of course, Chat wanted more than that one day. He found her captivating, her stubbornness never failed to intrigue him. She could do things he couldn’t do and he admired her and her confidence alike for that. He figured she was no less amazing in her civilian life. 

However, because he didn’t want to disappoint her, he was fine with staying like this. He’d kept himself awake for nights on end about it. Chat Noir was Ladybug’s best but would she even like his lonely other side, Adrien Agreste?

As Chat Noir, he could at least pretend to be someone with conviction, someone who was free and someone who could be depended upon. In contrast, Adrien was none of those things. What if Ladybug was disappointed with him once she found out who he was?

The only thing that pulled him out of his thoughts was the aforementioned attack. The girl, who looked to be around 14 at the most, had a distinct ability to see her future. Both Chat Noir and Ladybug didn’t know the girl but assumed that she was fan by the pins the girl had attached to her baseball cap.

She seemed to be difficult at first since she knew pretty much every move they could possibly make but her one weakness was that while she could see her own future, she wasn’t able to see theirs. Of course, this was the only thing that allowed them to defeat her. With a cry of “Miraculous Ladybug!” the akuma was finished and the two of them rested back on the platform. 

Ladybug cradled her left arm which had gotten bruised in the fight as Chat watched over her worriedly. They sat in silence like this for a bit. Chat thought over what he could say to her, unsure if he even should in the first place.

“Hey,” she ended up speaking first. “I was thinking about something this morning.” 

Confused, he sat down next to her and studied her. “What?”

Ladybug breathed out a sigh and turned to look at the night sky. Chat could tell that whatever was on her mind had been bothering her for more than just a day. It was important and they so rarely talked about things like this. He wouldn’t deny that he was anxious.

“I think…” she began. “We should-“

She was interrupted by a sudden gust of wind between them as well as a blur. Reacting a few seconds faster, Chat stood and tried to find the source of it. There wasn’t anyone standing directly on the platform so where did they go?

He turned his attention back to Ladybug who was holding her hand over her cheek in shock. When she removed her fingers, a clean cut was in its place and blood was steadily flowing out of the wound. 

“Are you okay?!” Chat asked in concern, rushing to her side but still looking out for the culprit.

“Wh-,” Ladybug stammered. “W-who?”

“I hope you like my gift, Ladybug.” 

Chat knew that voice. He looked around for her. There was no way she was here, right? She’d been gone for so long.

“You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to do that. Finally, you have a flaw.”

“Lila…” Chat whispered.

“In the flesh!” Volpina exclaimed, seeming to appear out of nowhere. She looked exactly as she did the day she’d been akumatized, albeit older of course. She wore the same outfit as before and Chat couldn’t help but wonder if she’d been akumatized again. “Although, I would love if you would call me Volpina, Chat!”

“Why are you here?” Ladybug spat out, finally standing and looking Volpina in the eye with such an intensity that Chat couldn’t help but be worried for his lady.

“Because I hate you.” Volpina replied simply.

She half turned towards the city, looking out at the different lights, the different lives that were happening near them. She sneered and Chat wondered what she was thinking, not able to decipher it from her look.

“And that’s why…”

Volpina turned back to them, looking through him and smiling at Ladybug.

“I’m here to destroy you, Ladybug.”


	2. Chapter 2

Marinette woke up the next day in a cold sweat. 

Working to slow her breathing, she tried to calm herself and sort through the thoughts that kept flying through her head. Something about Lila, Volpina to be exact... She still hated her and wanted to destroy her...?

"Was that all a dream?" Marinette whispered to herself.

In her "dream," Volpina had challenged her, cutting her cheek in the process. Chat Noir had protected her, shielding her and not allowing Volpina to get close. Marinette had been grateful since she was mostly in shock as everything happened and probably wouldn't have been able to fight Volpina off efficiently. 

Tikki floated up and rested one of her small hands on Marinette's cheek, pulling her out of her thoughts. 

"Morning, Marinette!" Tikki exclaimed happily. She held a smile on her face before it dropped into a more serious expression. "How are your wounds?" 

"Eh?" Marinette asked, confused. "My w-"

She moved her left arm slightly and pain immediately shot through it. Marinette winced and pulled back one of her sleeves to reveal a large bruise on her upper arm. Seeing it made all the events come back to her. 

The akumatized girl, talking with Chat, Volpina... It all happened!

But if all of that stuff actually happened, what went on after Volpina said that to her? How did she get back home and why didn't she remember any of it. Turning to Tikki who was still looking at her seriously, she opened her mouth.

"How... How'd I get home?" Marinette asked. "I barely even remembered that Chat and I encountered Volpina last night until you mentioned my wounds." 

She turned her attention towards the ceiling of her bedroom. "Here I was thinking that it was all a dream or something..." 

"I wish that was a dream..." Tikki said in response. "But it's true that everything happened. Volpina injured you and everything. Luckily, it was only that cut on your cheek. Although... I'm pretty sure that was just a warning."

Marinette thought about what Tikki said. A warning? If that was true, that meant that next time they seen Volpina, she'd do worse than just cut her cheek. Come to think of it though... how is Lila even able to be Volpina? She couldn't have been akumatized again, right?

"That doesn't explain how I got back." Marinette pointed out.

The only explanation that made sense was that Chat brought her back. But he couldn't have done that without finding out that Marinette and Ladybug were the same person. And although she'd recently been thinking about telling him, she didn't want him to find out like that. 

“That I don’t know” Tikki admitted.

Although, Marinette wanted more time to discuss it with Tikki because if it really was Chat that had saved her, that meant that he knew Ladybug was Marinette and she wasn’t quite ready for that. Instead of talking more, Marinette hoped out of bed and proceeded to get dressed into a casual outfit.

Her first class was at 10 AM which wasn’t anything special really. The important thing was that it was one of the few ones she shared with Adrien. She figured she was lucky to even get those. Because of this though, she always woke up extra early to mentally prepare herself (as well as her appearance) to see the guy she’d been crushing on for the longest time now.

As Marinette thought about it, she realized that the issue with Chat could be resolved later. As of right now, everything was about Adrien and all of the Ladybug stuff could be shoved away until it was necessary to talk about it.

Marinette grabbed her books and backpack while telling Tikki to hide herself in her purse. With that, she made her way to the campus of ENS Paris, one of the (if not the) most prestigious schools in the area. She felt grateful to be going there and felt great pride for the college itself.

Rushing inside to her Geography class, she spotted Adrien in his usual spot at the front as he waved at her, a bright smile on his face. Seeing him, she couldn’t help but smile in response despite how she was feeling from earlier.

“What’s up?” Adrien asked, a concerned look crossing his face. “You look a bit flustered.”

“N-nothing…” Marinette stammered out.

She had a lot on her mind, sure, but she couldn’t tell any of that to Adrien. She couldn’t tell him about the Volpina thing last night or the confusing array of memories of passing out and somehow getting home. She couldn’t even make the slightest suggestion about her being Ladybug.

Marinette couldn’t help but wonder how Adrien would feel if he did find out about her being Ladybug. Would he be disappointed that one of Paris’ beloved superheroes was just a clumsy girl who didn’t possess the confidence that Ladybug had? 

She tried to shake the thoughts from her head but it unfortunately didn’t stop it from coming back over and over again. Of course he’d be disappointed. Ladybug was everything that Marinette wasn’t. 

Sighing, she turned to the professor as the lecture started and tried to focus on what she was saying, taking notes here and there. 

Thankfully, the instructor mentioned an appointment she had to go to afterwards and wrapped up the lecture in a little under thirty minutes. Marinette was grateful as she could finally escape Adrien’s worried gaze. He’d been casting concerned looks in her direction since they’d talked and it’d done nothing but make her feel guilty that she couldn’t discuss with him what was actually wrong with her.

“Hey,” he said when she’d gathered her things and started moving to the door without a goodbye. “You don’t have a class for a while now, right? Let’s go take a walk or something.”

“W-why?” Marinette couldn’t stop herself from asking. 

“Honestly, I’m worried about you.” he replied.

“I noticed.” she muttered under her breath. “But I promise you I’m fine. You shouldn’t worry.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Okay…but I still want to take that walk just in cas-“

“No.” Marinette interrupted and then immediately clamped up, berating herself internally for refusing a walk with Adrien of all people.

Adrien looked at her, waiting for her to continue, a look of surprise on his face. Of course he’d be surprised. She’d never done anything like that. She’d probably just made him worry even more. 

“I’m sorry Adrien,” she spoke up. “But I just can’t.”

Without waiting for his response, she spun around and walked briskly out of the classroom. He watched after her for a bit before following her out of the classroom. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Adrien looking at her before turning and walking in the opposite direction.


	3. Chapter 3

Across campus, Marinette sat on a bench, berating herself for basically running away from Adrien. He was worried about her and instead of at least walking with him and reassuring him that she was alright, she’d turned on her heel and shut him out and now she felt awful for doing so.

In her defense, there was no way she could tell Adrien about her actual problems. However, it did come to mind that she could have at least hung out with him to clear her mind from said problems. 

It’d already came to mind that Adrien would be disappointed with her and even dislike her after finding out that she was Ladybug but this was an all time low. He probably hated her now without even knowing that information.

Marinette figured she needed to apologize but didn’t know how to do it. She supposed she could send him a text, letting him know how sorry she was and that they could hang out after their classes but her and Adrien rarely talked. They’d only exchanged numbers because of the fact that they had a few classes together and if one of them was absent, they’d be able to exchange notes. 

She’d been the one to ask for his number oddly enough. Somehow, she’d mustered up the courage and asked him one day after he’d been absent, saying she’d send him the notes so he didn’t have to play “catch-up” during the lecture. 

Although they didn’t talk besides that, it was comical to think about that middle-school Marinette never would have asked for Adrien’s number even if it was for schoolwork. Thinking about it made her realize that maybe she had gotten at least a little bit more confident, a little bit more like her superhero counterpart. 

Sighing, she decided to skip the rest of her classes and go back home. She rarely missed class (she’d been late several times though) unless she was sick. On the way home, she thought about what she’d say to her parents as she was sure they’d be able to tell she was lying if she wasn’t convincing enough. 

Entering the bakery, Marinette tried her best to ignore the confused looks of her parents, coughing out an excuse about a migraine and rushed up to her room. 

Tikki floated out from the small purse Marinette always had on her and landed on the bed, exhausted. Marinette stroked her kwami’s head and provided her with one of the cookies she’d swiped while downstairs. 

“Have you being doing something?” Marinette asked, confused. “Why are you suddenly so tired?”

Tikki, swallowing a mouthful of chocolate chip cookie, sighed heavily. “I kept your obvious injuries hidden such as the cut on your face and the huge bruise on your arm since you’re wearing a t-shirt. It takes a lot out of me but it’d be bad if people seen that. I’m not sure if anyone has covered the Volpina attack yesterday in the news but there are enough smart people to put two and two together.”

Shocked, Marinette plopped down next to her kwami. “You can do that?”

Tikki nodded. “Only for a short time though. Any longer and I might not’ve been able to hold it. It’s probably a good thing you didn’t go on that walk with Adrien.”

Hearing about the walk with Adrien just made her guilt come rushing back and she tried to steer her mind away from that topic before she actually became sick.

Picking up her phone, she opened up a new internet tab and navigated to the official Ladyblog. Since Tikki had mentioned they didn’t know if anyone had covered the Volpina attack, Marinette had become curious if Alya had. Her best friend never missed a Ladybug and Chat Noir appearance if she could help it and was always one of the first to cover whatever had happened in as much detail as possible.

Marinette had mixed feelings as the blog loaded up and the most recent post appeared. Alya had indeed covered the attack and in great detail too. The post was lengthy with many different points of speculation in it mostly revolving around the relationship or lack thereof between Ladybug and Volpina. 

Her best friend had highlighted reasons on why Volpina still held hate for Ladybug and why those reasons weren’t plausible. One of them was jealousy as the beloved superheroine of Paris was indeed Ladybug and would probably always be Ladybug no matter what. The post mentioned that Volpina had no reason to be jealous because she could work in tandem with Ladybug and become (almost) as great as her. 

Marinette couldn’t help but agree with that. If Lila had been an actual superhero, she would have been a great asset to the team. She would have been able to reach high places quicker than her and Chat because of her flight. Not to mention that there was no way super strength couldn’t have come in handy one day.

However, Lila had too much hatred to be an actual superhero.

As Marinette scrolled the post, she found herself agreeing with many of the points that Alya had specified. Alya had even pointed out that Volpina may be akumatized again.

Although no one knew that Volpina was Lila besides her, Chat and Adrien, they did know that Volpina was another akumatized victim. Marinette was sure though that some people no doubt put two and two together since Lila disappeared immediately after the attack.

Getting to the end of the post, she noticed that Alya had attached a video to the end. She figured it was just her going more in depth on her speculation that she’d provided in the post but as she loaded it up, she realized that was completely wrong.

It was an interview. 

An interview with… Volpina?

Looking closer, she thought it was Volpina but she realized it was only someone similar. She had the same outfit and had the same flute as Volpina’s in her hands but she seemed… different somehow… Marinette couldn’t exactly put her finger on it.

Nevertheless, the video itself wasn’t exactly an interview. More of a declaration.

“Ladybug’s watching this, right?” the recording started off. Without an answer, “Volpina” continued, “All I want her to know is that she can’t hide. And if she thinks she can defeat me, she’s in for a surprise.”

At this, “Volpina” got a bit closer to the screen. “And just so you know, I’m not akumatized, Ladybug.”

With a final smug smile and a wave, that was the end of the recording. Alya had a few excited comments after it about the video and wondering if she could get Ladybug to make an official response to the video for the blog but Marinette was at a loss.

Mechanically, she closed the tab and started typing in a number. Tikki had been watching silently and seemed to try to find something to say to Marinette to ease her nerves but nothing came out. 

Marinette finished typing and held her phone to her ear. 

“A-Alya?” she said when her friend had picked up. “Can we talk?”

—

Somewhere around 6 PM, Adrien stumbled in his house. He’d decided to pass on his Chinese lessons for the day (not just because he wasn’t feeling well but also because he was already fluent) and lounge in his room for as long as possible until his father found out he’d skipped the lesson. 

He wasn’t feeling up to doing much of anything after the encounter with Marinette. He’d spent the entire day worried about her and just a little hurt that she’d brushed him off like that. They were friends… weren’t they?

Adrien didn’t have many of them, friends that is. Nino was of course his best friend. They hung out every day pretty much if possible. He’d thought that Marinette was also his friend despite the fact that they barely talked. He honestly wished they could spend more time together but it seemed as if she didn’t feel the same way. 

He somewhat considered Chloé a friend since they’d known each other for so long. He still spent time with her although she hung off of his arm for most of it and berated everyone around him. She wasn’t the nicest person admittedly but she was his childhood friend. He couldn’t just not think about her when determining who was and who wasn’t his friend.

Adrien would consider Ladybug a friend but… she honestly wasn’t. At least not his. She was Chat Noir’s best friend, not Adrien’s. 

He sighed. 

Speaking of Ladybug, he wondered if she was alright. She had seemed pretty torn up after the encounter with Volpina. She hadn’t taken it well at all. He wished he knew her in their civilian lives so then he could check on how she was doing. Instead, he had to wait until their patrol that night in order to ask her how she was doing.

Adrien shuffled up to his room and shrugged his bag off. 

He flopped down on his bed and texted Nino about this or that before getting up when it was close to 7 PM. He transformed easily and snuck out of the house on his way to he and Ladybug’s meeting place.

He arrived a little after 7 but Ladybug was nowhere to be found. Chat immediately felt worried afterwards. It wasn’t like her to be late so something must have happened. It was only a few minutes but he couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread. 

Chat hopped through the city, the wind rushing by him. He landed on the Eiffel Tower’s platform and sat cross-legged, looking over Paris. From his perch, he could see the university he attended. 

Lost in his thoughts, Chat mused over the things that had happened with Marinette and Ladybug while he waited. He wondered what was going on with both of them and if they were okay. He leaned back and watched the lights illuminate the city.

Ladybug never showed up.


End file.
